Anderson Silva’s Doctor Provides Latest Update

Dr. Steven Sanders, the man who performed the leg operation on former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, offered an update on the condition of “The Spider” on Monday.

“I have been taking trauma calls at the hospital (University Medical Center) since I moved to Las Vegas in 1991,” said Sanders on a media teleconference Monday (thanks to UFC.com for the quotes), “so when the injury occurred, seeing it, the only question I had in my mind was ‘how low down on the leg was the fracture?’ Because depending on the level of the fracture, influences my thinking as to what type of orthopedic device I’m going to need to fix it. But the minute it occurred, I’m sitting there going ‘that’s fixable.’”

Sanders performed the operation late Saturday, repairing the tibia and fibula in Silva’s left leg. After getting out of the operating room, the Brazilian had just one question for the doctor.

“When can I train again?” Sanders said, of what Silva asked.

Sanders inserted a titanium rod into the left tibia from below the knee joint to above the ankle. The fibula did not need a rod. He also added that “age does not play a role in the fracture healing.”